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No At-Bats & A Perfect OBP Club!

Hello Baseball Fans,

An alert visitor to Baseball Almanac noticed that on Eddie Gaedel's career stats I had his on-base percentage as .000. Gaedel did not have a career at-bat, but he did walk once so his career OBP should have been 1.000. A division by zero loop was in place to prevent problems and inadvertently became the problem! It was immediately modified to fix this critical error.

It did make me wonder though how many players have had no career at-bats, and at least one walk. Without further delay I present the "0 At Bat / 1+ Walk / 1.000 OBP Club"! The list is presented in alphabetical order with those having more than one career walk in bold...

Sean, fascinating list! I wonder if any guys with no at-bats ever reached base by any other means besides BBs: HBP, etc. (Gee, how many ways can one reach base with no at-bats besides BBs and HBPs? Catcher interference? Balk after 3 balls?)

I just realized another interesting statistic: most plate appearances, no at-bats? It may be Parra and Rudolph (2 plate appearances each).

Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

Adam Greenberg got on base in his only plate appearence by getting hit in the head with the first pitch.

"I don't like to sound egotistical, but every time I stepped up to the plate with a bat in my hands, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the pitcher."
-Rogers Hornsby-

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."
-Rogers Hornsby-
Just a note to all the active members of BBF, I consider all of you the smartest baseball people I have ever communicated with and love everyday I am on here. Thank you all!

(note: a balk occurring on a three-ball count is recorded as a bases on balls. otherwise, the "pitch" is recorded as neither a ball nor a strike.)

Not necessarily true. A balk would count as a base on balls if only the play proceeds ans the balk is ignored as per 8.05 Pen. If a runner is on second and the pitcher balks on a 3-0 count, unless the batter hits the ball and he reaches first base and the runner reaches the next base (in that case the balk is also ignored), the runner would advance to third on the balk and the batter remains at the plate with a 3-0 count. A balk is "no pitch" in most circumstances.

However, if the runner is at first on a 3-0 count and the pitcher balks AND the pitch comes though and is a ball, then the batter is awarded first base on the walk and the runner is forced to advance as per 8.05 Pen.

Here it is straight from the book:

8.05
PENALTY: The ball is dead, and each runner shall advance one base without liability to be put out, unless the batter reaches first on a hit, an error, a base on balls, a hit batter, or otherwise, and all other runners advance at least one base, in which case the play proceeds without reference to the balk.

Here's some more scoring trivia: You've got a hit streak going. You walk (or get HP) each time up, streak still alive. Throw in a sac fly--streak over. Which is entirely consistent with the attitude about sac flies in the OBP rule: We'll give you a break in your BA, but you and I both know that, with a fly ball, you were going for a hit!

Adam Greenberg got on base in his only plate appearence by getting hit in the head with the first pitch.

I still remember that. He got called up to the Cubs with Matt Murton and I remember Kasper interviewing him and Murton after they both got called up. And then, in his first plate appearance, on the first pitch, he got hit right in the head and never saw the majors since. Murton, however, has become a pretty good player for the Cubs.